by Rev. Aeneas McDonnell Dawson

EXPEDITION OF PRINCE CHARLES—ITS DISASTROUS RESULTS TO THE CATHO­LICS—MERCIFULNESS OF THE SOLDIERS OF PRINCE CHARLES, ALMOST ALL CATHOLICS, CONTRASTED WITH THE UNSPEAKABLE CRUELTY OF THE DUKE OF CUMBERLAND’S TROOPS—SAVAGE EXECUTIONS BY THE HANOVERIAN AUTHORITIES—PRINCE CHARLES CONCEALED FOR FIVE MONTHS AMONG THE HIGHLANDERS—WONDERFUL ESCAPE OF THE BISHOP AND HIS BROTHER OF MORAR—EXECUTION OF LORD LOVAT—VISIT OF BOISDALE TO PRINCE CHARLES—BETTER DISPOSITION OF THE MINISTERS OF THE KIRK WHO REFUSE TO OBEY THE CRUEL ORDERS OF THE DUKE OF CUMBERLAND—DEATH OF BISHOP HUGH Mc’DONALD, 1773.

Some account of the Jacobite rising of 1745 will not be out of place here, as it involves the history and the fate of the Catholics of the Highlands, and, indeed, of all Scotland. Contrary to the sound advice of Bishop Macdonald and other gentlemen of repute, all friendly to his cause, Prince Charles Edward landed from the French ship in which he had come, disguised as an abbe, and accompanied by seven of his leading adherents. He immediately raised his standard at Glen­finnan, and in an incredibly short time was surrounded by a body of devoted followers. With this force, small enough for the conquest of an empire, he proceeded to the Lowlands, capturing towns and laying the country under contribution far and wide. It was not long till he reached Edinburgh, the Capital, and as he had numerous friends there, it became an easy conquest. He was keeping his court in this city, at the palace of his ancestors, and preparing for further and still more daring operations, when Sir John Cope, the commander of the Government forces in Scotland, advanced in order to check his progress. The armies met at Prestonpans, near Edin­burgh. The result was a brilliant victory for Prince Charles, which gave eclat and prestige to his cause. Encouraged by this success, the Prince resolved to invade England. He succeeded in taking the important City of Carlisle, and thence proceeded without any serious interruption as far as Derby, within 127 miles of the British metropolis. He had evaded an army commanded by King George II.’s second son, the Duke of Cumberland. This army was two days’ march behind that of Prince Charles, and never could have overtaken the active Highlanders. A council was held and the chiefs decided on returning to Scotland. To this the Prince most reluctantly consented, for he considered, and rightly, that to retrace his steps was to give up the cause. So, judged also the numerous friends who were hastening from Wales to join his standard. A strong force of French, under the command of the Chevalier’s Brother, Henry, which was preparing for a descent on the south coast of England, was also discouraged from undertaking anything. When it was known in London that the insurgent army was so near the capital, there prevailed the greatest consternation among the anti-Jacobite population of that city. Many merchants and others who were hostile to the House of Stewart, removed their most valuable effects, as did also King George, who had his yachts in readiness and was prepared to embark on the approach of the hostile power. A leading member of the cabinet, the Duke of Newcastle, shut himself up a whole day, resolving to proclaim King James III. and VIII. All this very plainly shows that the anti-Jacobite portion of the city possessed no adequate means of defence. The Bank of England itself was in danger, and was only saved from a declaration of bankruptcy by the stratagems of its friends. Under the circumstances, it is scarcely possible to conceive the infatuation of the insurgent chiefs, who preferred slow but sure destruction to a fair chance of final success. The Prince alone appeared to realize the situation. He was so depressed that he could hardly be dragged along at the rear of his brave army. His only chance would have been to appeal to the force at large, who were as deeply mortified as the Prince himself when they found that they were in retreat. Every advantage that had been gained was lost. There remained only the indom­itable bravery of the Prince’s little army. At Falkirk, in Scotland, they encountered a superior force under the command of General Hawley. They fought with their accustomed valour and won a signal victory. At Inverness they were not so fortunate. The Duke of Cumberland met them there at the head of a superior army, which was well provided with artillery and otherwise well appointed. The Highlanders, on the contrary, were worn out by hunger and fatigue. Under such circumstances, it was in vain to attempt a night surprise of the enemy. The march over difficult ground in a pitch-dark night could not be accomplished in time. But the fatigue of such a desperate journey remained, and was a source of weakness in the ensuing battle. Now was the time, one would say, for retreating into the mountain fastnessess, which were so near at hand, and where the Highlanders could have renewed their strength and recruited their army. How much wiser would not this have been than to meet, on Culloden Moor, ground unsuited to the Highlanders’ mode of warfare, an army twice their number? Desiring that the English army should be the first to attack, they gave the enemy too good an opportunity of thinning their ranks by the deadly play of their artillery. They charged, at last, without waiting for command, and with their usual bravery and skill, although without their wonted success. It was not a time for denying time honoured rights and privileges. It had been the privilege of the powerful Clan McDonald, ever since the days of King Robert Bruce, to fight on the right wing of the army of Scotland. On the fatal day of Culloden they were placed on the left. They were unable to over­come the mortification caused by what they considered their disgrace, and when the battle was against their cause, they were too dispirited to make any effort in order to retrieve the day. What remained of Prince Charles’ army retired in good order to the Highlands.

The Prince himself was with difficulty led off the field. The ill-advised expedition of Prince Charles Edward was attended with the most disastrous results to the Catholics, especially those of the Highlands. Such of their chiefs as were not killed in battle, or barbarously murdered, when wounded on the field of Culloden, suffered severely in their property, while not a few perished by the hand of the executioner. Their castles and mansions were given to the flames, and they were obliged to wander from one place of concealment to another in their native land. The common people had no better fate. The fields from which they derived their subsistence were laid waste, their cottages destroyed, and they themselves reduced to poverty and in many cases to actual starvation. Under such circumstances the offices of religion could not be publicly performed, nor could the clergy fulfil in private the duties of their sacred calling. Their flocks, deprived of instruction, fell away in part, and before the end of the unhappy time became greatly diminished. The Right Reverend Bishop MacDonald fared no better than his more humble brethren. He persevered in the fulfilment of his duties until he was seized, and, what is not a little remarkable, tried not as having favoured the insurrection, but as a “Popish Priest,” and sentenced to banishment; but not actually banished. He withdrew to a retired place called Shenval, near the Seminary of Scalan, in the mountainous region of the Cabrach and from thence, as often as possible, especially in summer, visited his afflicted flock.

The army of Prince Charles Edward consisted almost entirely of Catholics, with some non juring conservatives of the Episcopal Church of Scotland. It is highly to the credit of these men that in the days of success they never practiced any cruelty against their fallen enemies. After their brilliant victories at Prestonpans and Falkirk they gathered up the wounded of Cope’s and Hawley’s armies and kindly tended them as if they had been members of their own force. This generous humanity was but ill repaid by the opposite party when they at length won a victory. Many brave Highlanders lay wounded and helpless on the bloody field of Culloden. The Hano­verian General, William, Duke of Cumberland, George II’s son, ordered that all the wounded should be put to death, and they were despatched accordingly, the general overseeing the cruel massacre. Such of them as had found refuge in private dwellings were ruthlessly torn from those asylums where they were tenderly cared for, and barbarously murdered in the open fields. The house of that most benevolent gentleman and zealous supporter of the Hanoverian dynasty, Lord President Forbes, was not respected. Quite a number of wounded men were humanely received there and kindly treated. The hospitable mansion was savagely violated, the wounded soldiers dragged from under its protecting roof and shot down in groups. What a contrast does not such cruelty present with the unvarying humanity of the insurgent army.

The officers of Prince Charles’ army who escaped being slain at Culloden, became, like himself, wanderers through the country, at every moment in danger of being taken. Many of them indeed were caught, and of these a considerable number were delivered to the executioner and murdered with all the circumstances of barbarian cruelty. With the exception of men of high title, who enjoyed the honour to have their heads hacked off, all other offenders, and they were numerous, who fell into the hands of the enemy, including chiefs and gentlemen of the highest rank, were subjected to the like treatment. Three minutes on the rope, and then, whilst still in life, the horrid butchery of disembowelling and beheading. (R. Chalmers.)

The inexpressible infamy with which these shocking butcheries disgraced the Hanover dynasty no time can ever efface, nor excellence of virtue ever atone for their blood guiltiness and that of their cowardly agents. Prince Charles, after five months of privation, misery and concealment in the Islands and on the mainland of Scotland, at length got on board a French ship and was safely conveyed to France. It says much for his adherents of ail classes, of whom the Catholics were the most numerous, who were with him in his ill-starred expedition, or only favouring him in private, that, although in the course of his wanderings, he was often in their power, as many as over a hundred being aware at times of the place of his concealment, and that there was a reward of £30.000 (thirty thousand pounds sterling) offered for his capture, not one of them ever thought of betraying him into the hands of his enemies.

Bishop MacDonald, who, as we have seen, was finally arrested as a priest, one day at the time, the pursuit of insurgents was the hottest, together with his brother, the Laird of Morar, and Lord Lovat, sought refuge in an island, which is in Loch Morar, and trusted to being secure, having drawn, all the boats that were in the locality to the Island. This was of no avail. The soldiers in pursuit brought a boat from the neighbouring sea, and speedily reached the Island. Meanwhile the fugitives made for the mainland in one of their boats, when the two brothers, by their greater agility, effected their escape, whilst the aged Lovat fell into the hands of the pursuers and was conveyed to London in order to be another victim to the vengeance of the cowardly enemy. He had been reconciled to the Catholic Church by Bishop MacDonald when they were together in the Island of Loch Morar. On the scaffold he openly professed his faith, and spent some time before the axe fell, in acts of devotion.

The Bishop was more fortunate. He managed to avoid being captured by the soldiery till autumn of the same year, after leaving Loch Morar, when he found an opportunity of passing on board, one of the French ships which had come in search of the prince. On arriving in France he went to stay at the Scotch College of Paris, and would have gone to Rome, but, at the desire of Prop­aganda, remained in France in order to be nearer his people, and possibly able to give them some assistance; with a view also to be more ready to return home when it should become practicable. The French Court generously bestowed on him a pension of several hundred crowns. He returned home in August, 1749, and managed to exercise without any serious hindrance, the duties of his high office, until, as has already been stated, he was shamefully betrayed and arrested at Edinburgh in July, 1755, and tried as a “Popish Priest.” Although the sentence of banishment which ensued was not put in force, the Bishop found it necessary to live very retired outside the limits of his Vicariate, sometimes at Shenval and sometimes with a friend at Auch­intoul, when he was not engaged in ministering to his flock in the Highlands. He died at an advanced age, when on a visitation to his afflicted people in Glengarry, on the 12th of March, 1773.

In two years from the date of Culloden, an amnesty was resolved on. Then appeared the true animus of the Hanover party. There could be no longer prosecutions for treason. To make amends the penal laws must be put in force, and hence it was that Bishop MacDonald was arrested as a “Popish Priest,” and sentenced to perpetual exile. There can be no doubt as to the ill-feeling against Catholics which prevailed throughout the country. The peoples’ fear of abso­lute monarchy was associated, groundlessly, indeed, but certainly, with an equally great fear of the Catholic religion. Of this state of feeling there are many proofs which it would be super­fluous here to recount. There is one, however, of such an interesting character that we should regret to omit recording it. Mr. MacDonald, of Boisdale, who was friendly to Prince Charles, and gave him the wise advice to refrain from his expedition, together with Mr. Hugh MacDonald, of Balshair, who was also friendly, but who, like Boisdale, had not taken part in the ill-fated expedition, visited the Prince at a place called Colliedale, in the Island of South Uist. One evening a rather free conversation took place between the Prince and his kindly friends. “At last,” says Boisdale, I starts the question if His Highness would take it amiss if I should tell him the greatest objections against him in Great Britain. He said not. I told that “Popery and arbitrary government were the two chiefest.” He said “It was only bad construc­tions his enemies put on it.” Boisdale then told him “that his predecessor, Donald Clan Ronald, had fought seven set battles for his; yet after the restoration, he was not owned by King Charles at Court.” The Prince said: “Boisdale, don’t be rubbing up old sores, for if I came home the case would be otherwise with me.” I then says to him, “that notwithstanding of what freedom we enjoyed there with him, we could have no access to him if he was settled at London.” And he told us then, “if he had never so much ado, he’d be one night merry with his Highland friends.’”

The Duke of Cumberland, in addition to his other hostile contrivances, endeavored to excite against the Catholic Jacobites their old enemies, the ministers of the Kirk. He required of the General Assembly to command all the established clergymen throughout the country to read a proclamation from their pulpits, in which the Duke ordered every minister and every loyal subject to exert themselves in discovering and seizing the rebels. The General Assembly complied. But, many individual clergymen, and this shows what a change had come over their minds, refused to read the proclamation, or left it to be read by their precentors. In consequence of this, the Duke sent another order to the Kirk, commanding every minister to give in a list of the rebels belonging to his parish. With this still fewer complied, the clergymen of Edinburgh setting an example of recusancy. The Duke then had recourse to individual applications and even personal entreaties. But to no purpose; and so he gave up troubling them.

    
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